Saturday Night(ish) Randomosity

• Economist’s View asks if Ben Bernanke should be reappointed?   Pros and cons at the link.  I think he should.  Predicting the future is a tough job, and the economic cycle has not been repealed.  I think the government has partnered with the Fed last year and this year to create a fiscal and monetary policy that will (eventually) lead to economic growth.
• I should never have opened up the Oreos this morning.  Just saying.
• Carpe Diem notes that the Federal minimum wage has increased, and that’s leading a Tennessee grocery store to reduce worker hours starting Monday.
• Picture is of ESPN’s Erin Andrews.  I was surfing and found a top Google trend list, where folks are looking for a peephole video of Erin undressing in her hotel room.
• Barry Ritholtz looks at the recent earnings and notes that they’ve mostly benefitted from “cost cutting and layoffs — rather than top line growth.”  Agreed.  Of course, that’s the first thing we should expect coming out of a recession as companies are still reacting to the economic slump from historical numbers.  Companies don’t traditionally start adding workers right away.  Instead, they’ll ask folks to work more hours until they’re sure things have turned around.  That won’t come until later.
• Say, California increased the minimum wage last year.  Just saying.
• Greg Mankiw wades into the national health care debate, and says it may be an issue of trust.
• Hat tip to Greg Mankiw for the link to Donald Marron, who notes the latest CBO does of reality on health care.  When the CBO initially blew the whistle on high costs and deficits last week, the President said something about appointing a commission or appointing a czar to find additional savings.  Well, “CBO estimates that the proposed legislation would save a paltry $2 billion over the next ten years, less than 1/500 of the 10-year cost of health reform.”
• More on the California budget, as officials concerned about new budget woes.